AUBURN, Alabama -- All of a sudden, the Auburn softball team finds itself in a skid.

Trying to rebound after a series sweep on the road at Florida last week, the Tigers instead gave up a 4-2 win to Missouri in the first game of a pivotal three-game SEC series on Friday night.

No. 21 Auburn (31-10-1, 6-7) took a 1-0 lead early on an RBI double by Branndi Melero -- an RBI that leaves Melero just four short of the school record -- but Missouri came roaring back with a four-run fifth inning to take the first game at Jane B. Moore Field.

"They had four infield hits. We cannot let that happen. We knew the team speed and that we had to get the ball and make the plays," Auburn coach Clint Myers said in a release. "Young teams have to grow and this one has to mature rapidly."

Missouri, a team with a reputation for team speed, got all of the runs it needed back when Sami Fagan laced a two-run single in the fifth and Angela Randazzo followed with a two-run homer.

Despite an RBI sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning by Kasey Cooper, Auburn's offense failed to generate anything more, and the Tigers dropped their fifth straight in the SEC, putting some pressure on the rest of the series.